pop! goes the badger

Thank you so much for all the badger-relief tips. After almost two weeks of badger occupation, I presented Ava with all the creative ways for emancipation. I was fairly certain the trap was the way to go. However, knowing that Ava had the most first-hand experience with the dreadful badger, I opted to let her lead the operation.

She tilted her head to the side and listened carefully as I explained all the options. After deliberating for a blink, Ava marched to the center of her room and grabbed the scraggly badger by the neck. “Naughty, naughty badger! You must go back to the forest,” she said as she shook him up and down. Then she scrunched the snarly badger up into her fist and said, “POOF!!” as her fingers flailed him out of her room and out of house and into the forest.

Never fear Jennifer, I have no doubt that the sneaky badger will find a new way into ourhome. As for how the badger ever came to be, it remains a bit of a mystery. Since the badger first arrived I have discovered that we own three books with badgers: The Bear Snores On (a delightful rhyme with a hobo stick carrying badger who brings treats to his friends), an animal alphabet book (again the badger is actually quite peacefully and beautifully drawn), and The Snow Mitten (this harmless badger is one of many animals that crawls into a mitten). All of these badgers are a friendly sort of badger. As far as I can tell the nefarious badger who plagued Ava was her very own creation–not the animal, but the character.